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" I was always drawn to gospel music and the roots of African-American music. It's the foundation of rock and roll. "

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" Certainly in the case of having to answer questions about where a song comes from, it's a hell of a lot easier when you say, 'I've removed myself from it.' But they start from quite a personal place. They always do. "

" I'm reading a lot of poetry because it's a lot easier to dip in and dip out when you've got 10 minutes to yourself. "

" There is no singer I can think of who can touch Ella Fitzgerald. And when Billie Holiday sings, she's merciless about it. Her voice has just this immaculate sadness - even in happy songs, there was something that was so broken about it. "

" The main thing is, I can't stay up late partying when I'm on tour. That's not good for my voice or my health in general. "

" It's so easy to look forward when you're travelling; you spend your life looking forward, thinking, 'What's next? When do I get time to work on my music again? Or when do I get time to get my 'normal' life back?' "

" When I first started to sing, I just swung at it with an axe. "

" I look at all good things with a bit of a dark lens, I suppose, especially with something like love. "

" I don't like false happy endings, and I don't think the real world is such a forgiving place. "

" By nature, I'm an awkward person; I'm a gangly introvert. "

" There are a lot of recurring themes that I resonated with when I read 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.' "

" I'm an awful control freak at times when it comes to production and stuff like that. "

" Someone had an eye on me as I was leaving high school. I had a chance to record demos, but they were kind of wanting to make a pop singer out of me, of the 'X Factor' variety. I didn't feel comfortable with it. I wanted to be a songwriter. "

" I had just discovered jazz, and I started singing in a kind of blues cover band at the age of 15. We called ourselves - it was a terrible name - the Blue Zoots. We couldn't actually get our hands on zoot suits, nor did we dress in blue. We did covers of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and kind of Blues Brothers repertoire stuff. "

" I find lyrics can come at any time during the day, as can music. "

" I was never academically driven in English, but, again, Tom Waits is a perfect example of an influence. He writes so immaculately and paints so perfectly a world and the characters within it. There are writers like that who are my influences: vivid and gifted storytellers. "

" I think my parents took me to see Sting when I was very, very young. "

" I would love to get in trouble with the Catholic Church. I'm not religious myself, but my issue is with the organization. It's an organization of men - it's not about faith. "

" A lot of the 'leave' campaign was centered around a thinly veiled xenophobia, just 'control our own borders.' It's not a good look. I don't think it represents Britain; I don't think it represents the U.K. all too well. It breaks my heart for my generation in Britain who are going to suffer. "

" When I write songs, I try to remove myself a little bit. Obviously, they're very personal to me, but it feels easier if I feel like I'm writing characters. "

" I like playing with light and shade. I like saying awful things in very pretty ways. "

" I feel my duty is to make music. "

" The best vocalists I can think of are female. "

" I love Muddy Waters and Nina Simone. I also watched 'The Blues Brothers' movie over and over. "

" It was amazing for me to even perform at the Grammys, but to do so alongside Annie Lennox was a truly incredible honor. "

" I was definitely drawn to the mythology of one man, one voice, and one guitar. "

" I try to face things without regret, or make sure that I'm happy with things and leave nothing unsaid if I can. "

" I wish I had more time to read. I'm always traveling. "

" If you can say something beautiful in a very terrible way - I was always drawn to that. "

" I'd love to do something with somebody like James Blake. "

" It sounds like I'm joking when I say it, but when I wrote 'Take Me To Church' and a lot of these things, I didn't think they would be hits. I thought I was writing for a potentially smaller audience. "